dana white being a complete idiot about fedor... as usual

There were reports around that time of anywhere from 2-5 million per fight, plus possible other incentives.

I think a lot of the figures and incentives thrown out there by Dana and others was BS to turn people against Fedor and make it seem like even the moon couldnt give Fedor the fortitude to fight in the UFC(the other side said there was never any such offers from Zuffa).which fans that are eitheir dumb or subjective or both would eat up and did. Dana White has pretty much done everything else to drag the guy down by revising his history and strongarming sponsers to not do business with Fedor...but yeah..poor guy..those crazy russians.

but whatever, just because the deal didnt go like Dana wants does not really make it any more acceptable for him to go out there talking all this nonsensical bullshit about Fedor. It's damn simple..Fedor was SIGNED to another organization to which he has vested interest in that was not going to give him up when they felt they can improve their org. Why would they sell Fedor off when they got the deal they wanted somewhere else?

and M-1 did benefit at the end of the day. Yes, Fedor lost but they got plenty of recognition from this, the co-promotions, and they got their own TV deal with Showtime now. They have inserted themselves in the United States which was their main goal from doing these co-promotions. Despite Fedor's fall they won't really need co-promotions from here on out, especially if Showtime-Zuffa is done after SF is. Usually in business, when you are negotiating with two sides and one org is trying to give you half of your demands and another company is going to give you all of your demands the decision is easy. It's pure fanboy bias for people to act like M-1/Fedor were any way wrong in taking the deal that THEY wanted rather than the deal that pretty phased out M-1 completely that the UFC wanted. Gee..works for me...but if any of us were the heads of M-1 the fanboy hat comes off and the common business sense hat goes on. I know i'd rather still go get national exposure(check), remain an actual org with a US TV deal(check), and still get Fedor millions(wow, check) rather than become simply a t-shirt Fedor wears to the cage.

NOW..to say M-1 was in the right is not to say UFC was in the wrong. It's business...but people posting all this shit with Dana White throwing a tantrum like some victim and using it against Fedor is bullshit. It's just biased. You wanted Fedor in the UFC..i understand that because i did too..but our soiled pants of not getting what we wanted does not make M-1 wrong or Dana some fuckin victim of strongarm negotiations with good cause to rip on Fedor with silly talk at all.

I don't think anyone said M-1 was in the wrong, but come on dude, you don't believe they offered him a huge deal at that time? 2-5 mill per back then doest seem crazy in the least.

Dana's reaction is completely understandable, tell me right now, you're in his shoes, run the biggest Org in the sport, made a huge push for a fighter just from him to sign elsewhere, you're going to be like yeah no big deal? Considering M-1's history do we think they weren't tough to deal with? Reality is, it may have worked out fine for M-1, but they really didn't deserve what they were asking for in the first place.

I'm sure they offered Fedor a very nice deal, but Fedor was an employee of the guys that they would have had to offer a nice deal to in order to get Fedor.. they didnt offer M-1 a nice deal that was not a buy off(which was not their intent at all) and considering Fedor was under contract to them they were the ones who were rightfully in the position to seek a good deal and they got it somewhere else...and i can't stress enough..the UFC didnt have to and were right not to give into these demands because it's their model and why the fuck shoud they right?..but that does not at all make M-1 the crazy guys in the room. It's just conflicting business models.

Whether or not M-1 DESERVED the deal they were asking for is irrelevant...they got the deal so deserving or not they are were negotiating to serve THEIR best interest and giving into the UFC did not at all serve their best interest. Now there is Fedor's best interest but an org will use their employees to serve their best interest..no exceptions...and Fedor got paid like a big dog..i doubt he would be laughed out of an upscale dinner with Brock Lesnar, GSP, Anderson Silva and Chuck Liddell.

I never said i didnt understand Dana's reaction. Fedor/Lesner was a fight fans of the sport wanted and it's his job to deliver those fights...and it's Dana..so we know he responds with obscenity when things don't go his way. He's a promoter, I fully understand his reaction to be angry that he had to announce to UFC fans that he could not deliever Fedor. That's hard but he was in the wrong to go out there fucking with Fedor's sponsers, feeding impressionable fans bullshit, and not explaining the situation with M-1 as conflicting business models rather than acting as if they had no right to have a conflicting business model.

If i was in his shoes? Keep in mind that a lot of promoters would just issue statements and not wing out a heartfelt rant like Dana..which is one of the reason i DO in fact like Dana. i would have been upset but told it straight. Fedor is under contract to a different organization and we were unable to come to an agreement to get him out of that contract and signed to a UFC contract. Other options conflicted with our policies. This is exactly what happened.

If i was Dana..i'd probably react with a red face, call the other org crazy even though they just signed the deal somewhere else that they were so damn crazy to want, call Fedor overrated, strong arm sponsers to not do business with him but other non-ufc fighters are OK, and fill my fans heads with bullshit.

Yeah they offered the fighter a great deal, never before has a fighter came tied with management asking for Co-Pro, so callin them crazy Russians isn't far fetched. And the deserving comment is fairly relevant, cause it's pretty ridiculous to ask a Billion dollar company to Co-Pro for one fighter, they ended up getting it from a Org looking to make some waves... Why I asked if you get his reaction, is because some people reaction makes it seem like they don't, like they don't get why Dana would act like this and it's just Dana being Dana.. And Dana saying he's overrated goes overboard, but Fedor is the same guy he was, the greatest ever and in MMA when he beat Rogers, but 3 fights later and 1-3 in SF he's all of a sudden declined.

but they are an organization that Fedor is signed to...they arent a management. Management is what they would have BECOME if they sold off Fedor and took some deal to still their logo on his fight gear or what not. That is the biggest misconception about this whole situation that fucks up peoples perception of the situation. Dana painted them out as crazy managers when they are an international org with Fedor under contract. Managers don't have fighters under contract. What does a sweet deal for Fedor and only Fedor mean to M-1 who were the ones Dana had to negotiate with LEGALLY when inquiring about Fedor? If M-1 was merely Fedor's management, i'm sure they would have hopped on whatever deal the UFC was offering them but obviously their interest was to improve the profile of their organization in the U.S and Fedor was their main fight and thats that..they arent even a little crazy for wanting that.

Maybe Dana is a little crazy himself for not walking out after M-1 said there was no way they would sell of Fedor's contract or work a deal to release him...because when dealing with another org..no matter how small or irrelevant they are compared to you..you know damn well co-promotion is the only option after that and as UFC uses every one of their fighters to improve their organization, M-1 used Fedor to improve their organization..and they were right because they did where as they would not even exist in their current form had they took some deal to become Fedor's management or they would simply be back to being in russia with a bag full of money and no cards to lay on the table if they just released Fedor after a pay off.

It's very very simple. M-1 didnt try to force UFC to do anything they didnt want to do. They presented an option and stood by it. It's not their problem if UFC policy says they are crazy..it's Dana and company that failed to tell the fans that Fedor was not a free agent but signed to another org which led to fans believing that chances of Fedor in the UFC was high while they were always very very low...and i could have told you that before Affliction folded because M-1 made it very clear that Fedor was a contracted Fighter that worked for them and they said they would only have him with other orgs through co-promotion. Which led to his embarrasment, dissappointment, and obvious spiteful bitterness when a deal wasnt made

I'm not looking to continue this debate on the 2009 M-1/UFC meetings though. I got incredibly tired of discussing it in 2009 when i got into just about every thread. My stance has not changed a bit since then. Not trying to be a last word freak and i'll read your responses but chances are my answers will be inside my other posts in this thread, i hate getting into a long debate and than reading back on it and seeing i repeated myself a billion times just expaining my stance over and over again. This topic has already killed enough hours of my life. If you don't agree you don't agree. Thats fine. It's just one topic that is pretty irrelevent in mid 2011 and it's been a proven time killer in the past.

At the end of the day, any MMA fan with some fuckin sense can at the very least agree that Dana White is wrong about Fedor Emelianenko being overrated. The man was the greatest of his a decade and with some tune ups in approach still has a lot to offer at a high level in MMA. Those awesome power striking performances displayed in Affliction helped Fedor and hurt him as well. It helped his name value but it put him in a headhunter mode.

Too much reading but I got to stop caring about this shit, if someone see's something different I doubt I'll change their mind. All I know is that Co-Pro shit was ridiculous and I'd say fuck off in that situation. Their Org or Management was worth shit then, and as soon as Fedor retires I bet they are dropped from Showtime.

You all know how I feel about the whole Fedor/GOAT thing, but this thread is complete fanboy, Bullshit. I will agree from 2000-2005 that Fedor was the best fighter around, hammers for fist and slick submissions. But after the Cro-Cop fight he and his team just chased money and co-Pro status. It is now 2011, Fedor is all but done. Like most pro-athletes who don' have lick of common sense, he will probably be broke in a few years, while M-1 (who got the biggest chunk of the Strikeforce package compared to the guy getting hit) slowly sinks into bankruptcy.

So fanboys everywhere, I say this. Fedor is like an excellent Sunday dinner, the chicken was prepared, cooked, devoured and now it is time to discard of the useless carcass. There is another meal to do the same to tomorrow.

I saw the clip with Ariel where Dana whipped this piece of paper to critique Fedor